Lilium
by tRagikTRuth
Summary: Happy Birthday you're three years old. And alliance is made and the resulting marriage goes awry when their daughter turns out to be more than anyone bargained for...
1. History

Author's Note: This is short -- deal with it,. It's only the history behind the story so no one's confused. Or... so you're less confused. The next one's longer.

* * *

Prologue – history

* * *

Within four terms as King of Demon World, Enki was getting older and less willing to take the throne again each time he fought for it. 

By the sixth Koku had taken over for him and ruled by his laws. She remained in power for another two terms.

Nearly thirty years had gone by, marked by prosperity and peace. But Koku was getting on in years and couldn't hold the throne forever.

That was where Saicho came in. The next king of Demon World.

Siacho lifted all laws pertaining to the consumption of humans. He allowed his demon brethren to roam freely in the Human World.

Thus did the humans become aware of the existence of demons. Panic struck the lands and anarchy reigned all over the world. The demons pillaged and burned the cities, looting, raping, and eating to their hearts' content.

No one was safe.

By the time Spirit World became aware of this problem and sent a team of the Special Defence officers to reinstate the barrier, Saicho had devised a clever plan to prevent them.

No officer assigned to raise the barrier ever returned.

Finally Spirit World, in a frenzy as new souls poured through the doors, all confused and distressed and angry, managed to begin negotiations for peace between the two worlds.

Thinking to outsmart the childlike negotiator, Saicho agreed to call off his demons for a large sum in gold and jewels and a promising marriage for his daughter Claire. As Koenma had been about to agree, Saicho added one more condition to the agreement: Claire's husband had to be of all three worlds.

Koenma had reluctantly agreed to the final term as well – he had no choice. He immediately set off to search his files for someone – anyone – who matched that description.

He found only two. One was discarded immediately.

That one was Yusuke Urameshi. The human. The Demon. The boy who had come back from the dead… twice.

One month later an extravagant and large house was built on the human side of the portal, but near enough that Claire could go home and visit any time she wanted. A week after that the two were married.

It was a heavy blow to both the Spirit and the Human worlds.

Most of the demons followed their king's orders and left obediently. Others had to be rounded up and carted over the line. Still more were killed and their bodies discarded or burned.

Even years later Koenma would look back on that wedding and sigh. It was a political marriage, loveless and polite. Almost four years later the couple had their first child, a girl called Lilibelle for her maternal grandmother, Shiori for her paternal grandmother, and Minamino for her father.

Lilibelle Shiori Minamino.

Suiichi 'Kurama' Minamino's only child.

If it had been any one else there would have been no peace treaty. Kurama understood politics as much, if not more, than Yusuke did not. Where Yusuke would have argued and fought his way out, Kurama accepted his duty in stoic silence.

Youko the demon. The spirit fox. The human.

And so life went on. Rumours filtered through the levels of work until they reached Koenma's ears: there was something strange about little Lilibelle. When he asked Kurama if he could have a look at her, the kitsune had simply replied that Claire wouldn't let anyone but her parents near the child and that since Claire was the mother he had no right to contradict that decision.

And so Koenma had to wait.

He didn't have to wait long, he discovered. Only three years, in fact.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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Even as a child she was astute. She understood what was happening around her and she was sure no one knew it.

Except, perhaps, her father.

There was something different about him, that was for sure. He alone didn't seem bothered by the fact that she never cried or laughed a child's innocent laughter. His long hair was the most brilliant of reds, his eyes like pools of jade, his skin pale but not unhealthily so.

They called him Kurama. Sometimes Suiichi.

Her mother was a deeply tanned woman and, she assumed, liked to spend time outside. She had chestnut hair and pretty blue eyes, was kind and gentle, always pampering and cooing over her daughter.

Everyone called her Claire.

She wasn't positive, but she didn't think her parents looked at each other quite the way they looked at her. In fact, there was no love in her father's eyes as he gazed upon his wife.

Of that much, Lilibelle Shiori Minamino was certain. Of her mother, she still wasn't sure. Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn't.

But there was also something different about the way her father handled her and the way her mother did.

Her father was gentle but he knew when to let her alone; when to assist and when to stand back. He regarded her coolly but still managed to make her feel like she was safe and loved. His voice was calm and reassuring; a light, musical sound.

Bell's mother was constantly trying to make sure she wasn't going to hurt herself or hovering around anxiously. Claire was soft spoken around the child and always careful in her movements. There was a strange look in her eyes, something beyond love that drove her to be the insecure woman that coddled her child. There was a matching note of tension in her quiet voice.

Bell didn't mind. She observed, grew, and learned. She had a good life, albeit isolated – no one came to visit them and even when they did Bell was usually locked up in her room.

Things went downhill the week before Bell turned three.

At first Claire simply became less attentive and left more often to meet with friends.

Then Claire started avoiding her daughter and jumping when Bell spoke to her. She wasn't the hovering figure the child was used to.

Two days from Bell's birthday, Claire began breaking into hysterical sobs the second her daughter came within sight.

One day and she shouted, throwing things all around, breaking them. She screamed and cried and Kurama had to confine her to their bedroom so she wouldn't hurt Bell.

Bell looked up at Kurama through dark purple eyes and thick, deep brown locks of hair. "Daddy, what's wrong with Mommy?" she asked innocently.

Kurama looked down at Bell and frowned. For a minute he didn't answer. Then, "Claire is terrified beyond reason," he replied stiffly.

"Of what?" Bell clutched the ragged, grey stuffed monkey she brought everywhere she went close to her chest.

Again Kurama hesitated, but he seemed to decide that honesty was best. "Of you."

Bell blinked. "Of… me?" She looked down the hall to the door and giggled. "Why would Mommy be afraid of me?" She once again turned those large innocent eyes to her father.

This time Kurama just turned away and left Bell standing in her doorway confused.

Bell frowned. "I'll show Mommy she doesn't need to be afraid," she decided, speaking aloud so her monkey would know what she was doing. "Although I don't know why she is in the first place…"

So, her sock covered feet padding softly down the hall, Bell crept up to her parents' room. She glanced around – she wasn't supposed to go inside – and turned the doorknob experimentally.

Kurama hadn't locked the door. Beaming at her luck, Bell pushed the door open hesitantly. "Mommy?" she called softly into the room.

There was no answer.

"Mommy?" Bell ventured a little further into the room. There was no one there. But a door ajar with the light on and the faint sound of ragged breathing to her left made Bell smile and she ambled to the bathroom there to find her mother.

She pushed the door open a little more and stopped, frozen in her tracks at the sight before her: Claire stood at the counter, leaning over the sink, a crazed look in her eye as she stared at herself in the mirror.

"I can't do this," she moaned to herself. "I can't do this. I can't put myself through this torture; I won't let my own daughter kill me!" She laughed hysterically and fumbled for something beside her. "Carrier, they called me at the hospital. Those men in suits. Carrier… I can't inflict this disease upon a child, any child, most certainly not any child of mine." Claire lifted a pair of scissors and snipped the air experimentally. "Nope." She laughed again, a hollow, dead sort of laugh; the laugh of someone who has nothing to lose but life itself, and even that hold is tentative. "No child of mine will grow up like that."

Bell gaped at her mother. This was a side of her never revealed. It was a side Bell didn't like.

"Better off dead, they said to me. But I had to be sentimental – 'She's my daughter, my only child' I said. 'You can't take this precious child from me' I said. I was a fool." Claire frowned and stared intently at her reflection. "Oh, I knew what she was of course, when they told me. But no mother would believe their child a monster. But she is, oh, she is. No more cursed children from me!" Claire snapped the scissors together and stabbed the point into her hand with a cry of pain.

Bell gasped and stumbled backwards in shock. Another peal of crazed laughter echoed in the room.

"But that child, that monster… she must die first. No third birthday for little Lilibelle."

Bell's eyes filled with tears and she fell back over the edge of the rug. "Mommy," she whispered feebly, staring at the door. Could her mother truly mean to kill her?

It seemed she could.

"Oh, little Bell," Claire cooed as she stepped out of the bathroom, blood dripping from the scissors and her hand. "How much of that did you hear, little one? No matter," Claire sighed. She lifted the scissors and twirled them in her fingers. "Soon we'll be without troubles and worries, you and I. Doesn't that sound nice, honey?"

Bell sobbed fearfully and scrambled to get farther away. "Mommy, why are you doing this?" she whimpered. "I love you, Mommy!"

"I love you too, my little treasure. That's why I'm doing this. It's for the good of everyone." Claire stepped forward, her voice gentle but her face twisted hideously as she looked upon the child crawling away from her. "No one wants a monster around."

Bell felt a searing pain as the sharp points of the metal blades plunged into her back, narrowly missing her spine. She cried out. Her arms and legs giving way so that she fell flat on her stomach. The object was removed and Bell quickly rolled over onto her injured back. She screamed and held up her hands to try and deflect the next blow. All that this action accomplished, however, was to impale both of her palms and leave the poor child in tears and a slowly growing pool of blood.

As her mother raised her weapon a third time, Bell's father caught Claire's arm and shoved her away from his daughter. Bell had no idea where he came from, though at that moment she didn't particularly care. Claire shrieked and charged forward again. Hiei pushed her back.

"Don't you see what she is?" Claire demanded savagely. "Don't you see what we've created? We have to kill her before she kills us! Before she kills everyone! _Belle cannot turn three!_"

Kurama frowned deeply. "Claire, be reasonable. This is your daughter, not a monster. If you would treat her with the love and respect she deserves then she would have no reason to kill you. The thought probably hasn't even crossed her mind. You've kept her so sheltered that I doubt she even knows what she is, much less what's going on."

"How can you defend that… that _thing_?" Claire pointed a shaking finger at Belle, her eyes glinting with the heat of madness.

"How can you think of killing her?" Kurama retorted instantly.

Claire shook her head. "I don't have time for this," she snarled. Once more she made to stab Bell and once more Kurama repelled the hit.

"Claire, if you try that one more time, I will kill you. Don't contradict me," he added when Claire opened her mouth indignantly. "There is no love in this marriage – it is purely political. Although I am certainly willing to sacrifice this peace for the life of my daughter, I'm sure your people will understand when I explain to them what you were trying to do."

Claire growled lowly. "As long as I take _that_ with me," she spat.

The scissors were in her hand one moment and flying through the air at the small gap left between Kurama and Claire in the next. Bell flinched, positive that she was about to die without so much as an explanation.

But Kurama had produced his rose whip in the same instant and with one smooth motion had both deflected the attack and made true his threat. Claire's torso lay a few feet away from her body.

Bell gasped and struggled to sit up, staring at the mangled body. "M-Mommy," she sobbed. "What did you do to Mommy?" The monkey at her side was lifted gently, followed by Bell herself as Kurama carried her out of the bloodstained room.

"Bell," Kurama admonished quietly. Bell fell silent immediately, sensing the underlying command. "What you have to understand is that you mother was under a lot of strain, mentally and emotionally. Being married to someone you don't love, someone who doesn't love you back, can be taxing. She never learned how to deal with it. She was bound to break sometime." Then he sighed and set her on the counter in a different bathroom. "I'm… sorry you had to see that."

Bell sniffled. "Why was Mommy so mad at me?" she asked. "Why did Mommy want to hurt me? Did I do something wrong? Am I a bad girl?"

"No," Kurama replied sharply. His voice softened. "It had nothing to do with your behaviour. Claire was hysterical. If I thought this bout of madness would have subsided I would have tried to save her. It was either her or you and quite frankly you are more important to me."

Bell watched Kurama clean her wounds for a minute before looking around in absolute panic. "Where's Monkey?" she howled. "Where is he? Did Mommy—"

"He's here, Bell. Please settle down, I have to get you cleaned up." Kurama absently handed her the monkey and returned to cleaning the blood off the wound in her back. He reached into a cupboard and pulled out an unmarked bottle. "This is going to sting. Be a good girl for Daddy and sit still, okay?"

Bell nodded and hugged Monkey tightly. She gritted her teeth as Kurama applied the antiseptic, followed quickly by thick gauze pads and a linen bandage from a drawer.

Turning around, Bell held out her hands. "I think I got blood on Monkey," she explained soberly.

Kurama smiled faintly and took the stuffed toy from her arms to set it beside her. "I'll get him cleaned up as well, then," he answered. "Don't these hurt?"

Bell shrugged. "They hurt when Mommy stabbed me, but now my body's all tingly. I can't really feel the pain…"

Kurama sighed heavily and began working on the holes in Bell's hands. "I'll take you to Genkai's and we'll see if Yukina will heal those for you," he said. "Sound good?"

"Can we get ice cream after?" Bell requested excitedly.

"Of course," Kurama replied. "Given that you are no longer in shock. It's not good to drink or eat when your system is shutting down. The best we can do is try to stop the bleeding and head out."

"Not without Monkey," protested Bell. "He _has_ to come, he just has to! He's my only friend and if we leave him here he'll be worried and feel lonely. I don't want Monkey to feel lonely, Daddy," Bell whispered, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her free hand around them. She glanced at the monkey sadly. "It's not a nice feeling. He's never had to feel it because I've always been with him. We can't let him feel lonely."

Kurama regarded his offspring intently. "Your mother was a fool," he muttered to himself more than her. "Because she was worried about herself she isolated you. You don't know what it's like to play with children your own age—"

"Shhhh, Daddy, Monkey will hear you!" Bell hissed, covering the animal's ears with bandaged hands. Kurama noted worriedly that blood was already seeping through the cloth. "He's very sensitive about that!"

Kurama forced a laugh and picked up the monkey. He lifted Bell to the floor and gave her a little push. "Go get your jacket; it's a little chilly outside. We'll have to take a portal, I don't think a wounded girl and her blood soaked monkey would be very welcome on the train…"


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: It was brought to my attention that Hiei was mentioned in Chapter 1. Well... he wasn't supposed to be. It was a typo and I'm sorry if it confused any of you (thanks to sillylittlenothing for pointing it out). Kurama isn't nearly as cold or imposing in this chapter, I think. Maybe it was because he just didn't like Claire.

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Chapter 2

* * *

Genkai frowned at Kurama from her vantage point a few steps below him. She had been out for a nice, long stroll to cool her temper; Yusuke had been incessantly getting on her nerves.

"Great, just was I need," she muttered sarcastically. "I'm already in a bad mood and now _you_ turn up with a kid 'in need of Yukina's assistance', as if she didn't already have enough on her plate. And I don't need a screaming brat to strengthen my headache!"

Kurama shook his head in vague amusement, although most of his attention was given to the weary little girl in his arms. "Bell has never been a screaming brat. She is most well behaved."

Snorting in disbelief and with the obvious air of one who believes oneself to be right and the other completely delusional, Genkai stomped passed him. "Whatever," she growled. "Get her fixed and get out of here."

Kurama nodded and followed after the old woman into the vast temple. The girl stirred and whimpered. Kurama gently tugged the monkey from her trailing hand so it wouldn't fall.

"Yukina!" roared Genkai as soon as the temple's traditional sliding doors shut behind Kurama with a soft click. "Kurama's here – he needs your help! He's gone and found another whelp in need of intensive care!"

Yukina rushed in immediately, an apprehensive look flooding her delicate features. Her blue-green hair fluttered in its usual ponytail behind her, her red eyes portrayed the utmost concern. "Oh my!" she whispered upon catching sight of the child. "What happened to her?"

Kurama followed Yukina into the nearest room; it was the living room. As the ice maiden cleared off the low coffee table beside the couch (Bell was still small enough to fit upon it comfortably), he stroked back Bell's hair.

"This is Bell, Yukina. Lilibelle. My daughter."

With a great, startled gasp, Yukina jumped to her feet. "_This_ is Lilibelle? How… How did she get so…"

"I'm afraid," Kurama explained coolly although his muscles and brain were screaming for him to do something, "that Claire had a bit of an… episode… In any case, she attacked Bell with intent to kill. I was forced to take Claire's life to protect Bell."

Yukina paled but nodded. She motioned to the coffee table and Kurama obediently placed his precious burden on the smooth wood. Yukina knelt, her hands hovering over Bell's small body as a soft, pale glow engulfed her hands and the young girl. For a while, neither adult spoke. There was no need – both knew what Claire's death meant for Human World and Saicho was not likely to forget the incident anytime soon.

But in time the silence grew too strong and Yukina was forced to break either it or her concentration. "I've heard things about Lilibelle, Kurama. People have been saying she's not normal, but no one knows why or how. Is she…?"

"She's… dangerous. It's her demon blood, running from two sides of the family. At the same time, Youko Kurama is not her father; Suiichi Minamino is. She has human blood, and human blood is… weak. Always looking to improve itself." Kurama paused and shook his head. "I've heard rumours as well, though not about Bell. Do you know there is an entire operation, undercover, to deal with this genetic evolution? They were there, at the hospital when she was born. I think one of the nurses may have called them when they saw…" Kurama trailed off and looked at Bell sadly.

Yukina stood and stumbled backwards weakly. Kurama caught her and helped her to the couch where she sank gratefully into the cushions. "Go on," she pressed in a shaky voice.

"They said she was a mutant, a monster. They do not know evolution as we demons do. This race they are trying to destroy is an improvement, not a setback." Again Kurama shook his head as though clearing it of cobwebs or dust. He motioned towards the pretty ribbons Bell wore on either side of her head, purple to match her eyes.

Yukina glanced at him curiously but reached out and tugged on the end of one until it came loose in her hands. She frowned; what was wrong with that?

Kurama read her gaze perfectly. "Yes, I know. I didn't think it odd either, not with her demon heritage. Many demons are born with horns, after all. The doctors, being human, preformed several tests and x-rays to make sure it wasn't life threatening. That was when the men showed up.

"They were dressed nicely considering it was the recovery room of a maternity ward and most doctors wear their scrubs so they can handle such delicate babies as Bell was safely. But there they were in suits, carrying briefcases. They said they needed to take Bell for research. Claire refused flatly; probably the only thing she did right by her child. When they insisted she threatened them – you've no idea how much power Saicho's name has over those in Ningenkai. They said she was a… Diclonius. They've given a branch of the human species a completely different name just because it was born with horns."

"What… what is a Diclonius?" Yukina asked timidly as though afraid of the answer she might receive.

Kurama glanced at her and then away with a long suffering sigh. "At the age of three a Diclonius will reveal its true powers," he said. "Tomorrow we shall see what a Diclonius truly is, if Bell is one."

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Author's Note: So maybe it's the slightest crossover with Elfen Lied – I'm not going to use any of their characters, just the 'disease', manipulated and twisted for my own purposes.

To Lucy, who reviewed annonymously: Yes (which should be even more obvious now). Thanks for reviewing.

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Morning:

Bell's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a bed; the next was that the bed wasn't hers anymore than the room was. Swiftly following this observation was that she was neither numb nor in pain.

Sitting up quickly, Bell inspected her soft, fuzzy pyjamas and the skin beneath to discover that her wounds were healed completely.

Thinking back, Bell remembered her mother attacking then her father killing her… She had been badly injured but Kurama had promised to take her out for ice cream once she was healed. She'd gotten her jacket and left, but not before grabbing Monkey so he wouldn't be lonely. Then on the way up the impossibly long staircase, she'd begun to feel dizzy… and then nothing.

"Monkey!" she whispered, completely horrified; the stuffed monkey was no where to be seen. "Daddy!" she called, hoping he was around. "Daddy!" Tears were forming in her violet eyes and she began to panic slightly.

"Bell, calm down," Kurama intoned from the doorway. He moved swiftly to sit next to her on the large, comfortable bed. "What's wrong?" he asked as he smoothed a lock of her hair away from her face.

Still trying to hold back her tears, she blinked furiously. "I can't find Monkey!"

Kurama laughed. "Monkey is in the living room. Yukina cleaned him for you. You should thank her."

Bell nodded and hugged her father. "Where are we?"

"Genkai's temple. Genkai trains people in marital arts and controlling their spirit energy. Yukina lives here with her; she's a healer, an ice maiden from the Koorime Island, but she also helps out with the cleaning and cooking." Kurama helped the little girl to her feet and guided her along the many maze-like hallways to the living room where Monkey was, as promised, clean and sitting on a chair waiting for her.

Bell squealed and ran forward to her only friend. Kurama shoved his hands in his pockets and watched with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"So what's with the kid, Kurama?"

Bell froze. The voice was decidedly masculine and unless Genkai and Yukina were men, which she highly doubted, there was someone else in the temple.

"She's mine, Yusuke," Kurama responded coolly.

Bell turned around and stared at the man – a little shorter than her father but not much, black hair slicked back with too much gel, big brown eyes, and a tough attitude. Yusuke, her father had said. The name was familiar.

"Yours, huh? Doesn't look like you," the man snorted and rolled his eyes.

Bell frowned. "Not all children look like their parents," she informed the man with an air of superiority. "In fact, many children get their appearance from much earlier generations – I read that in a book we have. Grandpa Saicho's hair is like mine and from the pictures we have of Grandma Shiori, I have her eyes."

Kurama smiled as Yusuke gaped. "Definitely yours, Kurama. No doubt about that. Geez, what does she do, read all day? She should be playing with other kids her age."

"Claire wouldn't allow her out of the house," Kurama replied monotonously. "She was paranoid."

"Monkey is my friend," Bell announced, holding up the stuffed animal. "He comes with me everywhere. I would have left him home but he doesn't get along with the others and I didn't want him to be lonely. Lonely isn't a nice feeling."

Yusuke stared. "Strange kid."

Kurama knelt down to her level and motioned her to come closer. She complied instantly. "Do you feel any different than usual, Bell?"

"Not really. Why?"

"It's your birthday, you know. Your third birthday."

"Really?" Yusuke asked curiously.

"So why should I feel different?" Bell wondered. Was some monumental change supposed to happen when you turned three?

Kurama smiled. "Either you do or you don't. You'll know if it happens."

"If you say so, Daddy." Bell turned to Yusuke with an insufferably sweet look on her face. "Mr. Yusuke, what are you doing at… at Genkai's Temple?"

Yusuke melted. "Aw man, how'd she get so cute?" he demanded of no one in particular. "I'm here for training, mostly. When I get lazy Keiko sends me up here do the old bat can whip me into shape."

"Genkai is a bat?"

"Bell, he simply means that she's old," Kurama explained.

Bell peered at Yusuke curiously. "But he already said she was old. He said 'old bat'."

Yusuke laughed. "Seriously, get out more. She's an old wrinkly hag with a screeching voice, like a bat."

"You can't hear a bat screech, Mr. Yusuke. The sound is supersonic, not detectible except by the most acute ears, mostly animals."

Frowning, Yusuke glared at the child. "Right little know-it-all, huh? Get your nose out of the books, kid."

As though on command Yusuke was thrown back out of his seat and slammed against the wall. Bell was pouting and clutching her monkey tighter. "It's not my fault," she complained. "Mommy wouldn't let me play, all I had were books."

"Bell." Kurama laid a gentle hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Let Yusuke down, sweet."

Bell blinked large eyes at her father. "I'm not doing that," she answered.

"Yes you are and you're strangling Yusuke." Kurama's words were gentle but his eyes spoke volumes of what would happen if she were to kill someone.

Bell stared for a long moment at Yusuke's struggling form as it tried to breath. Faintly, as though her vision were adjusting to it, she saw the outline and distortion created by what appeared to be a clear hand across the man's throat. An invisible arm trailed back to Bell, who appeared just as shocked as the newly arrived Yukina and Keiko.

"Oh my," Yukina gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth.

Keiko rushed over to Yusuke. "Yusuke! Yusuke what's wrong? What's holding you up? Oh, Yusuke!" She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him down. A thin trail of blood oozed around the clear appendage and Keiko let loose a terrified scream.

Bell blinked twice. "I don't even know how I did it," she panicked. "How do I make it stop? Daddy!"

Kurama was silent as he watched Keiko. "First of all, Keiko, stop trying to pull him down, you're liable to end up decapitating him." When the woman complied Kurama turned to Bell. "Close your eyes and concentrate to see if you can feel whatever is keeping him up," he instructed. Bell did so.

"I can feel them… coming out of my back… like another arm, I think there are more. Three."

"Good. Now pull them back, put them away inside you."

Bell concentrated and completely missed the crash of Yusuke falling to the ground as she piled the arm inside her once more. She opened one eye slowly, peering out at Yusuke, who was crumpled on the floor gasping for breath and clutching his throat, Keiko worrying at his side.

"What did that little brat do?" he asked hoarsely.

"I believe," Kurama answered slowly, "we have just witnessed what happens when a Diclonius turns three."

Bell shook her head. "Daddy, what's a Diclonius? I haven't ever heard that word used before. Is that what I am?"

Kurama nodded slowly. "It simply means your human genetics have evolved and you are stronger than others. Perhaps Genkai would consent to training you, or Yusuke, if Genkai is not up to the task. You need to learn to control it so you don't accidentally kill someone."

Bell shuddered. "I don't want to kill anyone," she whispered hoarsely.

Keiko stood with her hands on her hips and advanced on Kurama and Bell. "_She_ did this? This little girl?" she demanded.

"I didn't mean to," Bell protested meekly.

"Kurama, you have serious explaining to do!" Keiko shrieked. "I want to know how a sweet little girl like that could possibly choke Yusuke without touching him!"

With a sigh, Kurama began the long and complicated explanation. Once he finished, Keiko and Yusuke were dumbfounded.

"I don't think Genkai can handle another student," Yukina voiced suddenly. She knelt before Bell and touched the child's cheek gently.

"Of course I can; I'm not anywhere near ready to die yet." Genkai walked in and glared at the gathering. "What student?"

"Bell," answered Kurama. "She needs to learn to control her powers… Do you think it would be possible for you to train her?"

Genkai smirked. "Alright, Kurama, but I won't be held responsible if she gets seriously injured or dies. Leave her with me and I'll send her back in a month or so for you to check up on."

Kurama smiled, thanked Genkai, and stood. "I'll see you in a month then, Bell," he said.

Bell's lower lip trembled. "No! Daddy, stay!"

"Genkai will take good care of you. And Yukina will be here to help you adjust. You won't even notice I'm gone, I promise." Kurama hugged his daughter and handed her over to Yukina. "Be a good girl for me, ok?"

Bell sniffled and nodded. "Monkey wants a hug too," she announced.

Kurama consented, hugging the stuffed animal and returning it to the girl. "It's only for a month, Bell."


End file.
